Netflix vs Hollywood Is Getting More Intense

Good news, Hollywood! Netflix is becoming less interested in buying the movies you make.

Also, bad news, Hollywood! Netflix is becoming less interested in buying the movies you make.

Ted Sarandos, the executive who spends billions of dollars each year to keep video streaming service Netflix filled with streaming content, said on Monday that he would rather spend $1 billion on making Netflix’s own movies than spend the same amount to buy the rights for warmed-over Hollywood films that someone can watch on cable, on an in-flight movie or a zillion other spots that air movies after they exit theaters. “Some of the content is remarkably interchangeable,” Sarandos said at a UBS investor conference.

Mirroring its TV strategy, which features original series such as “House of Cards,” Netflix more recently has sought to finance its own films — including a Brad Pitt movie expected next year in theaters and on Netflix — in an effort to load up on programming that isn’t available anywhere else.